Nurarihyon no Himago
by had-an-idea
Summary: Many years have already passed since Nura Rikuo was appointed Third Heir. Life has been peaceful, and the need to engage in battle has decreased significantly. Peace was short-lived, and now it's up to Nura Ryo to take his place as Lord of the Pandemonium. Will he be able to find true strength? Welcome to the daily life of Nura Ryo: Nurarihyon's Great-grandson!
1. Chapter 1

A town on the Kantou Plain; Ukiyoe town, in that place there is a family that has been feared for generations.

"Ryo-sama! Lord third has requested your presence immediately." Kubinashi, the headless stringer, scolded the 15-year-old who seemed to be sitting wooden targets with a kendo sword. Ryo sighed as he put the sword away and wrapped his long white hair in a ponytail.

"What does the old man want now?" Ryo mumbled as he left the garden and entered his, very traditional, house. He was met by a man with brown hair and round glasses who was eating a bowl full of rice peacefully.

"Judging by the amount of sweat, it seems you were ignoring your homework again." The man, named Nura Rikuo, said not even bothering to glance at the teenager who stood in front of him. "Should I talk with your principal again?" Rikuo said as he opened his eyes slightly to glance at his son.

"I don't even know why I have to go to school, I can only be human nine hours a day. It's not like studying will make any difference in my life." Ryo rolled his eyes and sat down to serve himself a rice bowl. He took a spoonful and his eyes widened… it was a warm meal. "You and mom fought again. What did you do this time?"

"It's not fair that you always assume I'm the one to blame for our fights,your mother has quite a temper if you must know. Besides we are not fighting, Tsurara is just handling some business with the strike team tonight." Rikuo said as he removed his glasses and cleaned them up with his robes.

"Are you that useless that you have send mom to handle business for you? You are quite the yakuza… Sometimes I wonder if all those stories about you are made up. You look like a pretty useless human to me." Ryo scoffed as he wolfed down his dinner and stood up. "You should hurry up and make me fourth heir soon, before you regret it." Ryo added before slamming the door behind him.

"And that is why spending time with humans could do you some good." Rikuo sighed as he continued to eat.

Ryo woke up that morning and headed straight to the bathroom to wash his face. He sighed as he looked at his pathetic human form. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and just like his father, his eye-sight wasn't the best while in human form so glasses were required in order to be able to see properly.

"GOOD MORNING RYO!" A loud scream was heard as his door was opened rather harshly. The loud noise came from a tall woman with long blue, almost black hair, and yellow eyes. "I made you some soup for you to start your day with great energy! You are going to kick those tests in the butt!" Nura Tsurara exclaimed as she placed the tray in Ryo's table.

Ryo scratched his head as he exited the bathroom to meet his mother's smile. "Mom, we talked about being this energised in the morning." He sighed as he sat down to eat his so called soup, it was too cold to be even be considered melted ice-cream, but he ate it nonetheless. If there was something Ryo couldn't stand was to see his mother upset, so enduring cold meals was part of his everyday routine.

"Yes, yes! But you just know I can't control myself. I wake up everyday extra early so I can make you some breakfast. I just love seeing you in your morning form. You look so handsome! Just like your father~" Tsurara grinned as she pinched one of Ryo's cheeks.

Ryo ate as fast as he could, kissed his mother on cheek and grabbed is bag before rushing to the door. "Have a good day at school, Ryo-sama!" The entire Nura clan greeted him by the entrance before he made his way out.

Ryo sighed in relief once he was out the main house. He though he would have a peaceful walk until he heard a very familiar voices behind him. "Nura-san!" was enough to make him cringe. He felt a taller person, almost as tall as a lamp-post, wrap his arm around his shoulder quite aggressively. "Yamada-san… I thought you lived in the other side of town." Ryo said trying to muster a fake smile.

"Yes, but I had some very important business to discuss with you! I overheard some girls in class B were trying to find some guys to join them. Apparently they were dared to go to the abandoned prison, but they are too scared to go alone. So naturally, I signed up us both as volunteers. We are meeting them at four!" The black-haired boy said excitedly.

"Four?! You mean like four, after school ends at three, four?!" Ryo asked shocked. Of course he couldn't go, he would be in yokai form by then but he didn't have any excuse not to go.

"Yes, and there is no use on bailing on me this time! I called your father and he insisted on taking you with me! A true role-model if you ask me! He truly understands what makes the livelihood of a man!" Yamada exclaimed excitedly.

"This is just great…" Ryo sighed and looked down.

And so the daily life of Nura Ryo begins.


	2. Chapter 2

The atmosphere was dense, sadness and desperation filled the entire building drowning every last speck of happiness…so in other words, it was a regular middle school. Nura Ryo's face was resting against his hard desk, as if every shard of hope was lost. The usually calm and collected teenager was completely out of character, as he gritted his teeth thinking about his fate when he returned home.

"Nura-san! Don't be so gloomy! It was a great day, the tests are finally over!" Yamada said in his usual overexcited tone. Ryo had never met someone so cheery, something had to be very wrong with him. When they first met, he thought Yamada might be possessed by a yokai but it turns out he was just weird beyond belief.

"Easy for you to say, you passed all of your tests." Ryo grumbled. "Besides you don't have to face the wrath of my mother when you return home." Ryo winced as he pictured the cold face of his mother as she prepared herself to freeze his head. Ryo shook his head and shivered. "I'm doomed." He said and before Yamada could input in the conversation, Ryo's wrist watch started to beep. "Crap! I better get going!" Ryo said as he read the time, 2:45 pm. He had fifteen minutes to get home before revealing his identity to the entire school. He quickly packed his stuff and ran home, leaving Yamada baffled. "Why does he always have to rush?" Yamada sighed before packing up himself.

Ryo rushed home and slammed the doors behind him. Immediately after his watch beeped one last time before he transformed. His blue eyes turned red and his short brown hair became long and white. Not even Ryo's best efforts to push the hair down were successful. The long hair was unnaturally sticking out, much too similar to his father's night form for his liking. So as usual he grabbed the hair-tie he wore on his wrist and shaped his hair into a ponytail.

"Ryo, I didn't expect you to be home so early." A familiar voice behind him said and Ryo groaned knowing exactly who it was. "Well, if I recall correctly it was you that said I had to be careful, old man." Ryo said in a deeper voice, one he liked more than the one he had while in his morning form.

"Again with the old man." Nura Rikuo sighed as he emerged from the shadows. "You may think you are original and cool speaking that way, but believe me son, you're not." Rikuo shook his head. "What happened to you? You used to run around yelling 'Papa! Papa!' all the time. You were so cute." Rikuo sat down crossing his legs as he looked up to his son. "You should stop tying your hair, it takes the coolness out of being a Nurarihyon."

"Yeah, yeah… whatever" Ryo said completely dismissing his father. "If you came here just to tell me that, then by all means, leave." Ryo said and opened the door for his father. Rikuo just coughed and shook his head.

"That Yamada fellow called the other day, you are supposed to meet him in an hour. Where was it, again? Ah! The abandoned prison, that's right." Rikuo said with his eyes clothes, not finding anything odd with the predicament his son was in.

"Well, Great Lord Third, you seem to be forgetting something… I'm a yokai!" Ryo exclaimed and pointed at his face. Rikuo just laughed as he stood up. He placed his hand on his son's right shoulder, which caused to Ryo to back away immediately. "What's so funny?!" Ryo exclaimed quite annoyed at his father's behaviour.

"I was just thinking of your alternatives. You either, go and have a good time with your friend or you can join me and show Tsurara your grades." Rikuo said as his laughed died out. Ryo's face went pale and felt coldness run through his spine. He quickly tied his hair up in a bun and ran around his room finding a baseball cap, sunglasses and a surgical mask.

"Tell mom I'll be late and that I said to not wait up!" Ryo yelled as he left his bedroom completely disguised. Rikuo smirked and chuckled; Tsurara was the best trump card there was.

Ryo sighed as he walked the streets trying to be as invisible as possible. He was thinking of a lie to fabricate once he met with Yamada. He needed to explain the reasoning behind his new fashion sense without being discovered. Ryo gulped as he arrived to the prison, given his background he wasn't afraid of whatever monster might be inside, but he was quite afraid of being found out. Out of the blue he felt his shoulder being touched and jumped… of course, it had to be Yamada.

"Yamada! Don't scare me like that, you idiot!" Ryo exclaimed punching his so called friend in the shoulder. In the other hand, Yamada didn't recognise the teenager until he hit him that is. "Nura-san?! Why are you all covered up like that? And why is your voice so deep?" Yamada said as he gazed at Ryo.

Ryo took a step back trying to avoid being touched "I have a cold, and I didn't want to spread it around." He said giving it a half-assed explanation. He wouldn't be able to explain the white hair and red eyes if part of his costume was removed. Instead he pointed at the two girls who stood behind Yamada. "So are you going to introduce us?" Ryo asked and pretended to cough to give his story a bit more of credibility.

Yamada shook his head. "Oh right! I almost forgot!" Yamada said and took a step back. "This is Aihara Makoto and Suzuki Seiko." He said and the two girls bowed. Aihara Makoto looked like the typical class beauty everyone was lining up to confess to. She was tall, a bit shy and by the looks of her attire she loved pink which was a nice contrast to her jet-black hair. Besides her was her complete opposite and best friend, Suzuki Seiko. She couldn't be taller than 150 cm, her short brown bob and oversized shirt indicated she could be a tomboy and not exactly dating material. Not like Ryo cared about dating at all.

"Everyone calls me Seiko, don't worry about formalities." The shorter girl and approached him since her friend was too shy and scared to speak. "Nice to meet you both, my name is Nura Ryo." Ryo said and bowed. "We better go inside, the sun is starting to set." Ryo continued and walked inside leading the way.

"Yamada-kun, do you think we'll see some yokai?" Aihara Makoto said finally breaking her silence. "According to the rumor, the most vicious yokai in the city live in this city, so this prison might be their home base." Yamada said which caused Ryo to roll her eyes and scoff at the comment.

"What's the problem, Ryo-kun? Do you not believe in yokai?" Seiko asked getting closer than Ryo felt comfortable with. "Why would I want to believe in something meant to scare children?" Ryo had to maintain his cover at all cost. "Well, I do!" Seiko said and took a small book from her back pocket.

She opened it to a page with a very familiar picture. "See! This here is Nurarihyon! Leader of all demons, yet he looks like an innocent all man looking for people to prank. If he is the leader, then it means that all yokai can't be evil! I've never seen one, but I won't rest until the day I can interrogate one of them! They are so intriguing and beautiful." Seiko spoke without filter, as she usually did. Being called beautiful caused Ryo to blush, which his mask hid, and he proceeded to scratch the back of his neck. "Well if you put it that way…" He said but was interrupted when he sensed something following them. "You guys go ahead! I think I lost my wallet." Ryo said with a nervous laugh. Yamada shrugged and led the ladies further into the prison.

Ryo took off his mask and sunglasses. "You gotta lot of nerves if you think you can wreck havoc around the city like that." Ryo said with a cocky smirk. He walked up to a cell and looked for the origin of the sound, which was inside the toilet. A small yokai was hiding covering his eyes. "I didn't mean to Ryo-sama! It was getting boring around the house so I decided to have a little fun scaring children!" The yokai said imploring mercy. Ryo chuckled and grabbed it. "Of course it had to be you, Natto Kozo." Ryo sighed. "Just go back home." He said as he put the yokai on the floor. "So this is why the old man forced me to come, huh? Stupid old man leaving his pesky chores for his son." Ryo muttered as he disguised himself to return to his friends.

Once he finished up he ran to catch up, but once there he found all of his friends lying on the floor. They had fainted. Ryo's eyes widened and then he felt a cold presence behind him and smirked. "I didn't expect you to be around these parts of Japan…"


	3. Chapter 3

"I didn't expect you to be around these parts of Japan…Onee-sama" Ryo smirked and turned around. He was met with a very familiar sight, a tall Yuki-Onna that might be the mirror copy of their mother if it wasn't for the red-eyes. The 19-year-old yokai had moved away with their grandmother Setsura in order to explore her potential as a Yuki-Onna.

"Aww! Was I that obvious?! I wanted to give you a big scare~" Nura Fuyu pouted playfully. No matter how old she would get, she would always lack maturity. Ryo just sighed and chuckled at his sister's childish behaviour.

"Well, I would recognise your work anywhere. I thought you were training with grandmother. What, did you get homesick already?" Ryo said teasing her sister. Fuyu just rolled her eyes and eyed the unconscious teenagers.

"Unlike others, I do take interest in developing my fear as much as possible. Never mind that, I came here under father's orders. Something has happened, he is having an emergency meeting with the branch families and he wanted me to make sure you would get there safely." Fuyu said as she kneeled besides Ryo's fainted friends to have a closer inspection.

"Great! First he wants to risk letting our family secret out and now he sends you to babysit me. Well, I can take care of myself! You always let father push you around, if you ask me you should resent him for not making you fourth heir." Ryo said and huffed.

"It can't be helped. I was born a Yuki-Onna, you on the other hand well you are quite the copy of our father, Ryo-sama~" Fuyu said drawing emphasis to the sama in order to tease her younger brother. "Besides, I have no interest in the position. Unlike you, my idea of a perfect life isn't leading an entire clan of demons. It's far too complicated and troublesome. You like bossing people around, so the job is a perfect fit. Now if we are done chit-chatting it would be best to leave." Fuyu said as he stood up and fixed her kimono.

"I can't just leave them here, I need to take them home. If something has indeed happened then humans have no business roaming around the streets after dark." Ryo said as he looked at them.

"Aw look at you! Cutest little thing worrying about his friends! Don't worry, father told me about them. There is a car waiting for us outside. It will take them to our place, they'll be safe there." Fuyu said. Both Tsurara and Fuyu were extremely doting on Ryo, and as he grew up it had started to get a little annoying.

Once Ryo's friends were sleeping safely in his bedroom Ryo left to the council room. He took his place next to the right side of his father, as usual. Fuyu sat on the opposite side next to her father. Rikuo had a serious look on his face as he sat down with his trustworthy sword next to him, something mayor had to be going on since he was in his night form, these days he rarely resorted to transforming. Ryo sat there eying the crowd, it seemed even Zen and the Tono yokai came for this evening's meeting. Rikuo stood up and the chatter that roamed around the room suddenly disappeared.

"I appreciate your arrival in such short notice. I called upon you tonight for an urgent matter." Rikuo said exuding confidence with an undertone of cockiness in his voice. He threw a yellow folder to the middle of the room, spilling photos that were hidden inside. Photos of slaughtered yokai, but what was most shocking was that for every dead yokai there was a dead human too.

"This is…" Ryo muttered before being interrupted by his father. "For a couple of weeks I had spies in Hokkaido exploring the possibility of a yokai in a murder-spree. These pictures were taken in Tokyo. There is no distinction between human and yokai, no clear pattern that would link these murders, except one…their throats are slashed." Rikuo said and the room was once again filled with mutters and whispers. "Every single branch of the Nura Clan, has to be on high alert. Right now we are chasing a ghost, so any clue would do. If I find out that someone from our clan is leading these attacks then they will taste the rage of my boiling blood. Anyone who dares to filth the family name will have no mercy shown towards them. All new information goes directly through me and no demon should walk alone at night." Rikuo said with a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. He then placed a hand on his forehead. He seemed to have a terrible headache due to lack of sleep. "Meeting adjourned." He said and left to his personal chambers.

Ryo returned to his bedroom and sighed in relief as he saw his friends sleeping soundly. He sighed, it was almost daybreak. Ryo sat on the floor eventually falling asleep while sitting down. When he woke up, he was already in human form and right after him one by one his friends started to wake up. "W-When did we get here? Where are we anyway?" Yamada mumbled as he rubbed his face. "It seems you all caught my cold so I called my old… father and he helped me bring you guys here." Ryo said smoothly already quite used to lying. "So this is your house, huh?" Seiko asked as she got up and started to make way to the door. Ryo ran and stood in from of the door. "Y-You know, my family can be quite a handful! It would be for the best to stay in here!" He said nervously. "Maybe it is best if we leave… I bet my parents are really worried." Aihara mumbled too shy to speak out loud. Ryo sighed but eventually nodded, he hadn't thought about that very important detail. "Then I'll walk you guys out." Ryo said before walking his friends to the entrance, all very surprised at the magnitude of his mansion. "Funny, it looks smaller from the outside." Yamada commented as Seiko looked like a puppy seeing snow for the first time. "Ryo! You are filthy rich!" And as she said that Aihara nudged her indicating she was behaving badly. "It's okay really… I guess my family has been around for quite a long time, that's all." Ryo said and shrugged not really caring what they thought of him. He was used of having weird looks tossed at him.

They reached the main entrance without any yokai encounters, which was great. "Thank you for your visit." Ryo said not forgetting his etiquette. Yamada waved at him before offering to walk Aihara home since they lived next to each other. Seiko started to walk on the opposite direction before running back to the entrance. "Thanks for your hospitality! You have a very nice home!" She said and ran off again. Ryo could only react confused at her display of attitude, he was left perplexed for a couple of seconds before making his way back inside.


End file.
